11th Sunday after Pentecost
1 Kings 19:9-13
At that place [Elijah] came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of God came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for you, God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”
God said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before me, for I am about to pass by.”
Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before God, but God was not in the wind. And, after the wind an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. And, after the earthquake a fire, but God was not in the fire. And, after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Matthew 14:22-33.
(This text follows our gospel reading from the previous week, the feeding of the 5,000.)
Immediately [Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And, they cried out in fear. But immediately, Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So, Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Through Water
When I was a kid, the church that I went to did vacation Bible school every summer. Some years we would have themes. I remember one year, the theme was pirates, which looking back was probably not the best choice. The year that really stands out for me is when the theme was the book of Exodus. One day, one of the teachers came into my class and told us to follow him. He was dressed up like Moses, so we knew something fun and exciting was about to happen.
So, we all followed him, and he led us to the sandbox, which was this a big octagon, maybe 10 or 15 feet wide and a foot deep. The teachers had filled it with water, to represent the Red Sea, and the one who was dressed like Moses, raised up his arms, and a channel formed in the water. I knew the adults had done something to make this miracle happen, but I was too young to figure it out. It felt like magic. It was amazing! And, I remember as “Moses” led us through the channel, with the very low walls of water on either side, I remember being scared that the water was going to come back and our shoes would get wet, but it didn’t. And, we made it through to the other side, and I remember thinking, “Wow! I just crossed the Red Sea!”
Water often shows up in the Bible during times of transition and change. It represents life and cleansing. In Genesis, we have the story of the ark and the flood. Humankind had become wicked, so God sent the flood to cleanse the earth of that wickedness, saving Noah and his family because they were good. And, God asked them to save a male and a female of each animal species so that they could repopulate the Earth. The floodwaters came and wiped everything out, and Noah, and his family, and the animals floated in the ark for 40 days and 40 nights, until the waters receded, and the world was born anew.
In Exodus, we have the story of Moses parting the Red Sea, the Israelites fleeing from their old life of slavery in Egypt and heading towards their new life in the promised land. When I crossed the Red Sea as a child in Vacation Bible School, the water only came about halfway up my calf, but I imagine that what the Israelites experienced was probably a bit more dramatic.
There’re a few different cinematic depictions of this event. In The Ten Commandments, that movie from the 50s with Charlton Heston that my siblings and I watched over and over and over again, the water is rushing up from the ground with a deafening roar, like an upside-down waterfall. It’s scary and loud and it’s a constant reminder of the sheer power of the sea. In the animated Prince of Egypt, the water is a little more calm, and the Israelites are able to see silhouettes of whales swimming past them. There’re actually computer animated models online of what some researchers think might have actually happened, and what they think was that it was more like a receding tide, so far less dramatic than what the movies show us, but still this passage through water changed everything.
In the New Testament, we often find Jesus interacting with water. One of his first miracles was turning water into wine, the water itself changing to reveal the true nature of who Jesus was. A lot of the stories about Jesus and water are about revealing his true nature, forever changing those lucky enough to witness the miracles. The heavens open up during his baptism, the Holy Spirit descending upon him like a dove as the voice of the Creator says, “This is my son, with whom I am well pleased.” Can you imagine if you had been there for that?
And then, we have today’s gospel reading, Jesus walking on water. That’s the ultimate sign of divinity, right? That’s how we describe someone who’s perfect, who’s the ultimate do-gooder, someone worthy of worship, we say they on walk on water. And, how could you not be in awe of that? Someone walking on water, it would have to be some kind of trick, right? An optical illusion? People can’t walk on water. It was a miracle.
And, Peter, God bless him, he’s always getting into some kind of trouble. He sees Jesus doing this, and says, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
And, Jesus says, “Come.”
So, Peter gets out of the boat, and he starts walking on the water! He starts walking on the water! But then, he gets scared, and he starts to sink, and Jesus reaches out his hand, catching him, and says, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Jesus walking on water was a sign that things were about to change. Jesus wasn’t going to be with them for much longer. These miracles that he performed near the end of his life helped his followers to have faith in what he promised them. The miracles gave them hope.
Water, in and of itself, is a miracle. The Earth is the perfect distance from the Sun to allow water to exist as a liquid, which means that there can be life here. And, we experience the constant change of water from liquid, to ice, to a vapor, and back again; it’s a miracle that we get to see it. It’s miracle that we get to live it.
But, the sad truth is, we are running out of water. The West has been experiencing severe drought for years, although the recent rains have done much to alleviate that. And, though this is enough for some people to think that the problem is over, that we can all go back to doing things the way that we used to, I think most of us in this room know that just isn’t true. Weather has become unpredictable; water has become unpredictable. It’s a warning sign of things to come.
Our Hebrew Bible reading today was the story of Elijah in the cave, waiting for God to pass by. He was expecting God to appear in some grand magnificent way, in a great wind, in an earthquake, in a fire. But, God wasn’t in any of those. God appeared in “a sound of sheer silence.” God often appears in the unexpected. We need to pay attention. We need to keep our eyes and ears and hearts open. We need to have faith, and we need to listen.
God is still speaking. We say it all the time. We believe that revelation is happening here and now. The Bible is not dead; it’s alive, God is constantly speaking to us through it, to help us figure out how to live in our current day. God speaks to us through the wisdom of our family and friends. God speaks to us through the plants and the animals. God speaks to us through the water.
The water is telling us that something is wrong. The people who study these things and know a lot more about it that me predict that the next world war is going to be over water. It is such a scary thought, and I really hope it doesn’t come to that. We need to change where this is going. We need to listen to the water.
Water is life. Water is hope. Water is a future and prosperity. Without water, there is no spring, there is no growth, there is no food. Without water life becomes harsh, and hot, and dry. Without water, life becomes impossible. So many times in the past, it has been through water that we have received the message of God’s love and God’s providence. The message that things were changing. And, it is through water now that God is telling us that the world is in trouble. We have to do something. This is the only planet that we have, and we have to take care of it, not only for ourselves, but for the children who will inherit this world after us. God is moving in us right now to have this conversation, moving in us to change things. And, we can. We can change things, because we are not alone. God is calling out to us, through the water. We just need to listen. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
